Necessary as Blood

voice she came wide awake, sitting up and pushing her hair away from her face.
    ‘What‘s happened?‘ she asked when he rang off. ‘Did they get the warrant?‘
    Kincaid was already half out of bed. He leaned back and kissed her, quickly. ‘A team will be waiting for us in Hoxton.‘

    *

    Gemma had washed her face and thrown on jeans and a light sweater, then checked on the children.
    Betty had insisted on staying over, and had made herself a bed on the sofa. She‘d put Charlotte in with Ibby, and when Gemma peeked in at the two little ones, Toby had, as usual, thrown off the covers, and Charlotte was rolled up in the duvet like a little hedgehog, with just her curls showing.
    Gemma stood, gazing at them, wishing with all her heart she could protect Charlotte from any further harm — and from the truth about what had happened to her parents, if they should learn it. Then she sighed and closed the door.

    The Georgian street in Hoxton seemed slightly later in period than Fournier Street in Spitalfields. The front doors lacked Fournier Street‘s ornate lintels and the houses lacked the touches of eccentricity that made it so appealing.
    Here, the terrace was uniform, from windows and doors to trim-work to bell-pulls. Miles Alexander‘s house, however, was easily identified by the surrounding cluster of police cars, the SOCO van and the open front door.
    Doug Cullen was waiting for them on the pavement, and so, to Gemma‘s surprise, was Melody. Melody, like Gemma, had thrown on jeans and a cardigan, as the morning air was still cool. She looked exhausted, but she had paper cups of coffee waiting for them. ‘Coffee shop round the corner,‘ she explained. ‘I was desperate.‘
    ‘What are you doing here?‘ Gemma asked her. ‘I didn‘t mean for you to get out this morning, after all the work you put in last night.‘
    ‘Doug called me. And I wanted to be here.‘
    Gemma noted with interest that Doug and Melody seemed to have advanced to a comfortable first-name basis, and that he had actually invited Melody‘s participation.
    ‘Anything so far?‘ Kincaid asked.
    ‘You were right, guv,‘ said Cullen. ‘I had a look at his computer before Forensics packed it up. Bastard didn‘t even have his files encrypted, but I suppose he thought he could wipe them if anyone came snooping round.‘
    ‘And there are photos,‘ Melody added, with no trace of her usual cheerful manner. Albums of them.‘ She hunched her shoulders. ‘Truman‘s in some of them, too. And some other blokes. We‘ll have to crop the girls‘ faces from the shots, so that we can show them to Alia, and to the lady next door.‘
    ‘How many girls?‘ asked Gemma.
    Melody shrugged and sipped her coffee. ‘Half a dozen, maybe. The last girl looked very young. Very pretty. The men were...‘ She shook her head.
    ‘Any sign of girls in the house recently?‘ Kincaid asked.
    Doug took over from Melody, but without his usual territorial defensiveness. ‘Not at the moment, no, but they‘ve not got through everything yet. The interior of the house is recognizable from some of the photos, so apparently he used it for his... entertainment... on a regular basis. And the SOCOs found a pair of girl‘s knickers in the outside rubbish bin. They were...‘ Cullen seemed unusually hesitant, …soiled.‘
    ‘Blood?‘
    ‘And semen, they think. Maybe from last night‘s little soiree.‘
    ‘Jesus!‘ Kincaid looked as sick as Gemma felt. The fact that they‘d seen these things before didn‘t make it any easier. ‘His mates will have got the girl out after we had Alexander picked up. Bloody hell! We should have kept a watch on the house. I hope she‘s still alive.‘
    Cullen nodded agreement. ‘I‘ve got a call in to the sergeant who was in charge last night, to see if he can match any of the men he saw with the photos in Alexander‘s albums. Then we can start trying to put names to the faces.‘
    ‘Lucas Ritchie may be able to help there. And I suspect he‘ll be glad to cooperate if he wants to hang on to any shred of reputation.‘ Kincaid glanced up the road. A shiny red tow-truck came round the corner and pulled up behind a new-model silver Lexus parked near the house.
    ‘Is that Alexander‘s car?‘ asked Gemma.
    ‘His pride and joy, looks like,‘ Cullen answered, crumpling his empty cup. ‘But if he took Naz Malik to the park in it, the lab should be able to find traces of hair or fibre.‘
    Kincaid nodded. ‘That would be a